


Oldstones

by Juulna



Series: The Adoption Pile ~ come adopt a fic! [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Adopted Peter Parker, Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - The Witcher Fusion, BAMF Tony Stark, Exile of a Sort, Familiars, Hydra (Marvel), It's essentially what he is here, Kidnapped Peter Parker, Kidnapped Tony Stark, Kidnapping, Knight James Rhodes, M/M, Parent Tony Stark, Sorcerer Supreme Tony Stark, Witch Pepper Potts, Witcher Bucky Barnes, Witcher Steve Rogers, Work Up For Adoption
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-10-16
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:01:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27036103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Juulna/pseuds/Juulna
Summary: Peter Parker, adopted by the (in)famous Iron Mage, Tony Stark scant years ago, was taken from his magically-guarded tower home in the middle of the night while his three adult guardians slept straight until morning when the silence in the gardens and the rookery and the hatchery and the - it was too quiet.Tony, followed his senses and immediately headed for the nearly-deserted mines of Maribor. He had to keep going deeper and deeper until, "Holy shit, is my kid anecromancer!? That is so flipping cool!"Or that's how it would have gone down, at least, if they hadn't immediately overwhelmed him, placed him in a cell too far from his son, and then a few days later two witchers of all things were there to save the day alongside his trusty steed Jarvis and hound dog Dummy. Good boys, they'd waited for him!Then everyone was freaking out. Becausewho wouldn't when discovering their kid could raise the dead and that's probably why Hydra was after him!?Oh stars above, Pepper and Rhodey were going to kill him. ...if the hot men didn't first. WOW.
Relationships: Established James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers - Relationship, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Pepper Potts/James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: The Adoption Pile ~ come adopt a fic! [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1973182
Comments: 3
Kudos: 3





	Oldstones

**Author's Note:**

  * For [betheflame](https://archiveofourown.org/users/betheflame/gifts).



> Just to confirm, this is NOT a completed work, nor will it be --- at least not at this time nor by me. All fics in the Orphaned Pile I'm creating can be lovingly adopted by either myself or any giftee listed for that specific work. In this first example, you can ask Juulna or betheflame about adopting this fic; either can say yes or no. At that point, then, it would be in your hands, but I'd still be happy to consult ideas on the side. :)
> 
> The notes and prose of this 'chapter' do follow a linear path, if a bit meandering. Some notes will contradict each other, whereas other notes are more like musings. My way of brainstorming and soundboarding with myself. There are also complete scenes mixed in, along with bits and pieces of dialogue or random paragraphs. I think you'll figure it out as you read along. Y'all are smart!
> 
> This was one of MANY possibilities of fics I was considering to write for betheflame, who commissioned an MTH-adjacent (Marvel Trumps Hate charity auction fic... but 'won' and written not as an official part of the event). In the end, I simply had way too many ideas than I knew what to do with, was overcomplicating things constantly for myself, and I didn't know The Witcher (books or games, though I had seen the show) well enough to really write something set in its universe.
> 
> So I'm putting this one up for adoption, to do what you wish with it, you just gotta let me or betheflame know and have us agree. :) Then we'll mark this one up as going-going-GONE. :P

**Jenny of Oldstones**

High in the halls of the kings who are gone   
Jenny would dance with her ghosts   
The ones she had lost and the ones she had found   
And the ones who had loved her the most

The ones who'd been gone for so very long   
She couldn't remember their names   
They spun her around on the damp old stones   
Spun away all her sorrow and pain

And she never wanted to leave, never wanted to leave   
Never wanted to leave, never wanted to leave

They danced through the day   
And into the night through the snow that swept through the hall   
From winter to summer then winter again   
'Til the walls did crumble and fall

And she never wanted to leave, never wanted to leave   
Never wanted to leave, never wanted to leave   
And she never wanted to leave, never wanted to leave   
Never wanted to leave, never wanted to leave

High in the halls of the kings who are gone   
Jenny would dance with her ghosts   
The ones she had lost and the ones she had found   
And the ones   
Who had loved her the most

* * *

Start with Tony’s PoV. He’s rescuing Peter. So this is just before the attack. His perspective, etc. His history with Peter, Pepper, Rhodey. (He left Pepper and Rhodey behind because he didn’t want them to get hurt.) His familiars (Jarvis his black and ginger short-haired cat and Dummy his dog, a tricolor basset if I can swing it! Bloodhound otherwise) are with him, and his thoughts on that and the magic system in this universe. As much exposition as I can, even as he’s preoccupied with preparing to rescue Peter. Wondering why Peter was taken, if maybe it was because of Tony himself, or because of the power Peter has in him as a Source.

He engages. Lays waste to the enemy (Hydra? Ten Rings?). Rescues Peter… and a witcher and said witcher’s familiar, a wolf. (Witcher familiars are slightly different, rarer, but weren’t unheard of during the witcher’s golden days.) Stephen, called Steve, and Bucky.

Only Bucky isn’t actually a familiar. He suffered extreme trauma at the hands of Hydra, and he and Steve have been held captive for months. Steve suffered, but not nearly as much as Bucky, who was held much longer than Steve. But when Steve arrived, even though they were still captive, he started to heal. Just not enough to return back to his human form. But Steve and Bucky fell head over heels in love with the little Peter as soon as he arrived, and they watched out for him as much as they could given the circumstances and how badly drugged they were kept.

Peter insists on them coming home with him and, grateful to them, Tony gives in. Luckily he can open a portal to right outside the Tower.

Then focus on healing and getting to know each other, family bonding, and lots of Tony, Steve, and Peter cuddling with Bucky. They keep up the pretense that Bucky is Steve’s familiar, only because they’re not used to trusting others at this point; not enough, not yet. 

Tony starts falling for Steve, and Steve for Tony. And Bucky for Tony. And Steve tells Bucky they need to tell Tony about him, especially if they want to pursue him… then Peter totally reveals everything at supper one night. From the mouths of babes, basically. “Papa, why doesn’t Mr. Bucky turn back? That way he could kiss you like he wants to.” And Tony, Steve, and Bucky basically  _ choke _ . Pepper and Rhodey quietly gather Peter and leave the three idiots alone to work things out.

Bucky initially thinks he’ll be rejected, but Tony turns his doe-soft eyes of compassion on him and absolutely spills empathy at him. Makes him feel safe. He and Steve. It’s enough to let him shift back, and then… something. Not sure how to end it, but basically this.

  
  
  
  
  
  


~~Witcher and/or The Gift/Tortall and/or Aes Sedai/WoT fusion AU?~~

~~Make it more nebulous. Less specifics about the date and goings on in the realms and the politics and places and all that, more characters. Show some Tony, Steve, Bucky, Peter background before they happen upon the camp and Stucky are just in time for the fireworks. Not sent there. So rewrite all this, basically. Fresh start with more background but more personal detail than political and cultural.~~

~~Coloured magic. Weaving. The Source. Magic as a recognizable signature. Mix elements of the worlds, cultures, and monsters.~~

Jarvis as a familiar?

  
  
  
  


Peter had been barely three months old when he’d been placed on the steps leading to the Tower, to be found by the three best friends who guarded the region through means both mortal and magical. 

Tony, who some would say was barely more than a child himself, despite the decades he’d spent alive, surviving, and thriving, had bonded nearly immediately upon sight of the little baby boy. 

  
  
  


* * *

  
  


**Year 1249** **  
** **Maribor, The Kingdom of Temeria**

Steve was the one to finally call halt to the latest leg of their journey. They’d been traveling for three days, two nights, and they could have gone further, he and Bucky, but their poor, sweet mares really did not deserve another full night of walking with breaks few and far between.

Besides, it was the outskirts of Maribor they were approaching, and they had always had luck finding work in Maribor; it didn’t hurt that they were mostly welcoming of witchers— _ mutants _ —in their midst. Unnatural products of genetics, blessed with long life and extreme fortitude and cursed with supernatural senses, witchers made humans… wary. But good work and good will, and a good sword, went a long way.

Still though, it had been nearly five years since they’d last set foot in Maribor proper, and things seemed… different. Better, perhaps, but Steve wasn’t fully sure as to why the town was giving him this impression. 

Bucky ranged ahead as Steve took up the rear, eyes wandering slowly from person to place to shadow to person, always vigilant. Witchers could afford nothing less; they had lost too many in the Massacre at Kaer Morhen. Too many witchers, students and teachers alike, had perished there that day hatred reigned. The day that humans, egged on by a secret witcher sect, had come to take the lives and secrets of witchers. There were only a dozen or so of them left now, perhaps more—Steve and Bucky rarely returned to Kaer Morhen, even for the winters. There had been too many… differences of opinion between the elders who’d survived, embittered, and the young ones who wanted to carry on; who wanted to heal the rift between humans and witchers.

Maribor had changed their attitude a lot in the last sixty years; the years since so many of Steve and Bucky’s cohorts, family, had died. But Maribor had quickly repudiated the rhetoric, and exiled, killed, or locked up the members of the cult responsible, Hydra, in the years following. The cult was still out there, still existed, but they had drawn back to Nilfgaard, where—unfortunately—their beliefs found fertile ground.

“You gonna sit there woolgathering, little shepherd?” Bucky’s familiar voice was full of fondness as he interrupted Steve’s— _ yep _ —woolgathering. He  _ was _ rather good at that.

He looked down at the hand placed on his knee, then bit his lip and looked at his life partner from beneath his lashes. Bucky had already dismounted, Rosie’s reins looped around his other hand, and he was giving him a hint of that burning flirtatiousness they usually saved for private moments. Which, well, they were about to have… if they could ever get their asses into the inn and food and drink into their stomachs instead of standing outside like he was sizing up the place. Which he was.

“Hey, I tended those sheep like a champ,” Steve teased back, letting the few fond memories of childhood flit through his mind as he swept his leg over Deirdre’s back and landed softly on his feet. The ground was hard beneath his feet; the mark of a well-trodden path.

Which they were definitely holding up. 

Bucky put on his serious face and nodded to the citizens they’d been blocking as they walked their mares into the stable, but whispered low so that only Steve could hear him, “Hmmm, well, as much as your four year old, thirty pound self could handle, but you were at least really cute.” He winked and turned to settle the roan mare into her temporary lodgings.

Steve rolled his eyes fondly, and turned to settle his own black mare down. Deirdre, named both for the goddess of his people, and for the legendary ward of Kaer Morhen he had met only briefly as a young student.

Bucky closed Rosie’s stall door after giving her food and water, and pulled his hair back into a bun that drove Steve absolutely  _ wild _ . His throat suddenly parched, Steve stumbled just a little as he pulled his saddlebags over one shoulder, nearly catching them on the hilts of both his swords—one iron, one silver, as tradition dictated. 

Soon, room acquired and gear dumped and locked behind their door, though swords very much still in place, Steve and Bucky had taken a seat in the inn’s main room. Both of their backs were to the wall, comfortable even with their swords due to long practice, and their fingers gently tangling underneath the table as they dug with relish into the trencher of stew and whole chicken which had been rapidly placed before them alongside a pitcher of wine.

They’d been too long on the road without proper rest, pushing even themselves so that they could get further and further away from an amorous and  _ very jealous _ viscountess who simply would not drop the crazy concept of trying to pit them against each other, over  _ her _ . Maribor was far enough away from her clinging attention, considering it was on the complete other side of Temeria. But now they were here, in an inn that looked the same as it always did, somewhere they could relax and expect a reasonably good reception, and so they did.

They enjoyed the wine as they listened to the bard recount tales attributed to men and women Steve and Bucky knew, listened to songs of battles and romances and espionage both imaginary and all too real. They watched as he fiddled with mastery a song the bard said had only just been rediscovered—one which had haunted Bucky and Steve since childhood, one they had never heard since the destruction of their village, one which lulled them into a sense of peace and happiness and bittersweet memory which they had not been able to experience in… 

“I miss them,” Bucky whispered against his cheek, obviously feeling safe and comfortable enough to display open affection. Bucky had always been the more openly emotional of the two of them—though Steve’s anger was nothing to scoff at if let off its leash—and he had kept that emotional honesty even through the great transitions wrought by the Trial of Grasses and Changes, even through the frowning upon of emotions by their elders. 

Steve loved that Bucky had kept that. “I miss them too,” he admitted right back, letting himself experience the gentle, bittersweet shock of hearing a song they’d thought lost to the destruction of their village, the deaths of their families, the fading even of their existence to the shadows of forgotten history, nearly a century past.

They listened, pressed against each other as much as propriety allowed, and then some, and then let themselves enjoy with a smile the raunchy songs the bard finished the night with.

Near the end of the last song, before the crowd settled into a gentle murmur of voices and laughter, a woman slid onto the stool on the other side of their table.

Immediately on alert, expressions fading to neutral, Steve and Bucky settled into their seats, hands at the ready—but no further.

She was an elegant woman, with beautiful, fine strawberry-blond hair pulled back into an elegant half-up hairstyle that draped down the back of her navy high-necked dress. She was obviously wealthy, but displayed it only in the cut of her dress, the length of her hair, and the small sapphire earrings and plain wedding band which were her only ornamentation.

The woman’s aura was open and reassuring, honest, but filled with magic tightly coiled and controlled. Steve and Bucky had no quarrel with mages, but they also recognized the woman. By word and deed, though not by sight; they had only heard of Lady Pepper Potts, but she was the spitting image of how Steve had imagined her.

“Lady Pepper,” Bucky greeted, voice warm. He leaned back and spread his arm, the one made of metal and magic, across the back of the bench. “My regards to your craftsmanship, Lady; it’s stood up to everything I could possibly think to throw up against it.” His smile was open, friendly, and welcoming.

The sorceress smiled at that, a satisfied smile, despite being briefly taken aback. “Lady Romanova?” At Bucky’s nod, she continued, “I  _ had _ wondered why she requested Tony and I make a prosthetic that strong, that specialized. We may have crafted it, but I assure you, the credit for such a marvel belongs to her, despite being a wonderful and practical idea we wish we’d come up with. I’d always known that the man she helped with this brainchild of hers must be a special and trustworthy man. It takes a lot to befriend Natasha, and even more for her to love and care for a person enough to do what she did. The magic expended…”

Steve sighed, remembering those long days and nights, four of them, where Natasha had expended more magic than she should have, simply to return a comfort, a simple  _ limb _ that Bucky had been learning to handle living without, to a man who’d done nothing more than the right thing when presented with a soul to save. Nothing more than should be expected of anyone.

She had survived, and then laughed herself silly at how panicked they had been when they’d thought her dead.

“Rotten woman,” Steve said fondly, with an easy smile. He brushed his lengthening blond hair back from his brow, opening his posture even more. Friendly. All of his senses told him that Lady Potts was a potential friend, not foe.

Despite taking a chance with his description of the vivacious hedge witch who’d become an invaluable ally, it was obvious that Steve had said the right thing, the right way, and the last of Pepper Potts’ careful restraint and guardedness faded from her features. She smiled softly and said, “Yes, she really can be rotten, can’t she?” before her features took on an edge of sadness.

“I am afraid I am here with a… request for help, and not simply to meet the men I have heard so much about—and whom my knight husband will be terribly pouty at me for meeting before he did. I wish that these were happier times, or even any length of time I can give you as a good hostess in the city we protect… but one of us is in danger, and I fear there is very little time at all.”

Steve leaned forward, settling his elbows on the table as he frowned, perturbed. “What’s happened, Lady Pepper?”

“Pepper, please,” she offered.

“Pepper, then.” Steve nodded. He directed the conversation back to the problem at hand.

Whatever it was.

“We would be glad to assist any friend of Natasha,” he said. “Tell us, and we will do what we can to aid you.”

Bucky frowned and took his notebook and pencil from his pocket as Pepper began to recount what had happened.

Needless to say, they would’ve taken the job for free, despite not exactly being flush with coin.

The image Pepper had quickly conjured up from her flask of water, that of a smiling boy of perhaps five, golden-eyed and brunet, spinning around in a circle of liquid autumn leaves, caught their attention immediately.

“This is Peter,” Pepper began slowly, throatily, and she swallowed thickly before continuing in a slightly hoarse, low voice, “He’s my godson. Mine and Rhodey’s.” The image changed to show the boy, a little younger, held in the arms of a man with dark and unruly hair.

“Tony Stark,” Bucky breathed. They’d heard of the iron mage, the  _ magus ferrum _ of Temeria, though they had never met. It was a guess, but an educated one, seeing as he was known to be intrinsically attached at the hip to his best friends Pepper Potts and James Rhodes.

“Yeah,” she confirmed, voice soft and sad. “Peter is his adopted child; he’s been with us for three years now. But two weeks ago, Peter disappeared. We think he was taken, but there were few clues. Some signs of the supernatural, perhaps even a Hym, were present in his room, but the magic faded too fast to get a true imprint. I stayed here to scry—rather unsuccessfully I might add, to my greatest frustration—and my husband has been searching the villages for any sign of him. Any tales of a Hym, or another dark spirit. Tony, though… he took off the next day, said he might know where to look, and headed right for the Mahakam mountains. Told us to cover other avenues, that he’d be fine on his own, and really he should be…” She blinked rapidly, and Steve was touched at the display of emotion in front of near strangers. Touched at the clear display of loyalty and love she felt for the man who’d been raised from the creche with her and spent decades at each other’s sides.

“You lost contact,” Bucky guessed, gently prodding the water witch on. His brow was furrowed with concern however, and his left hand was tapping his pencil restlessly against his notebook. He had a cause now, had that look in his eye that Steve knew so well; one which meant they would be on the road again soon. 

“Three days ago, I lost him. Couldn’t call him up in my mirror or bowls or pools, not even the damn lake with all its power.” Pepper glowered, though the expression was short-lived and soon replaced with exhaustion and worry. “He was last near some of the mines at the heart of Mahakam, so there is a possibility some mineral or metal is blocking my sight, but…”

“Three days is too long,” Steve finished for her. 

“When I heard you’d arrived in town, I hurried over here,” she continued. “If anyone can track our Tony into and through a magical void, if anyone can find our godson too, it’s a witcher. Two witchers are even better, and two whom Natasha trusts so readily are the best of the best for this task. I can’t leave my post, and would do nothing but slow you down. Plea—”

“Do you have something belonging to either of them?” Steve asked, already planning ahead.

With relief in the slump of her shoulders, she pulled a bag from her lap and placed it on the table. “There’s an amulet infused with Tony’s magic, and Peter’s hair brush. I’ve also included two lockets, one each for if you find them. Open it, and it will let me know you’ve found them, immediately, and let them know you can be trusted.”

Bucky gently took her hand in his, metal soothing over delicately pale skin. “We can leave now if you can provide some energy for our horses.”

“We’ll find them, whatever that means,” Steve promised.

Her tremulous smile, and the hope in her eyes, provided all the strength he would need for the coming days.

“Now tell me more about this Hym.”

  
  
  


“There is… one more thing you should know about Peter.”

* * *

Steve had only ever been into the Mahakam mountain range once, decades and decades ago as a child barely able to walk on his own, when his mother had gone to one of the foothill towns for trade. Bucky, however, had never stepped foot even in the foothills, so it was up to Steve to scrape through his ninety plus year old memories on the fly as they carefully walked their horses along the narrow, steep paths. Somehow, in their seventy-some years of wandering the Continent, east to west, north to south, they had never found their way to Mahakam.

They still wouldn’t have, probably for another seventy  _ more _ years, but they’d been drawn to take this contract for more reasons than just the large sum of Temerian  _ orens _ which were offered as payment.

Needless to say, they would’ve taken the job for free, despite living contract to contract.

A child of five missing, likely taken by a Hym too interested in the boy’s budding powers.

A sorcerer, gone to track the boy down and—hopefully—kill the Hym as well.

But two weeks had gone by without a word or glimpse of any of them. Tony’s strengths in magic were fire, metal, and earth, none of which lent themselves to travel via portal or to communication over great distances, so his best friends, Lady Pepper and Sir Rhodes, hadn’t expected to hear from him for at least a number of days. But when Pepper had no longer been able to call up Tony in her scrying pool three days ago, she’d known immediately that something was wrong.

A Hym should not be able to block magic, they knew, so calling in a witcher—a pair of them at that—was the safest bet of all.

Especially since the three of them—Tony especially—were on the outs with the Brotherhood of Sorcerers and could not risk inviting them into their lives. Peter’s, especially; they had fair reason to believe that Peter would not be permitted to live if the Brotherhood ever met the child. If they ever saw how special he was.

Even Steve and Bucky were taken aback when Pepper had called up a memory image in her water of a grinning Peter, just like the first image she’d shown them, but this time he was dancing around and rolling playfully on the ground with a half dozen animal skeletons, all of which seemed extremely fond of the child.

As fond as skeletons could be, or even express, Steve supposed.

But they’d both understood, promising to protect the child’s life by tracking him down, but also by keeping their peace about the budding necromancer—and hopefully they would not be called to take said necromancer down once the child had grown into a man.

With the love of his adoptive father, Tony, and his ‘Aunt Pepper and Uncle Rhodey,’ however, Steve believed that was a  _ very _ slim chance. And before that could even be an issue, the child needed to survive.

If he weren’t dead already, alongside his father.

Lady Pepper had asked for oaths and a contract signed and sealed with a drop of their blood before they could leave, whether they took the contract or not. They’d done so, not batting an eye, and had gone on their way, their horses newly invigorated with a dose of water magic.

They had heard tales of Tony Stark, an earth mage who wielded fire and metal with ease, but they had never imagined they’d cross paths with him after his… falling out with the Brotherhood which had raised him and Pepper from a very young age. The man had destroyed the Brotherhood’s smithy, armory, and weapons caches nearly twenty years ago, before escaping into the night with Pepper. Accusing them of working with and also supplying the Nilfgaardian Empire, he’d followed Yennefer of Vengerberg’s example and made a name for himself separate from the Brotherhood. All sorcerers had been banned from associating with the man, banning them from speaking his name. But people knew. The people always found out.

And bards. Bards definitely helped keep legends like Tony Stark alive.

* * *

“Stevie, I’m pretty sure you’ve gotten us lost.  _ Again _ ,” Bucky complained, sounding not a bit like the ninety-eight year old, muscle-bound man he looked like. He knew it, Steve knew it, but it’s not like he cared about that. There were more important things to care about in the world, and keeping a stoic face like their masters had taught them was  _ not _ one of them. No matter how much he’d loved them, their teachings had been put to the test and lost more times than won. So no, he loved them and deeply prized his education, but he hadn’t blindly followed their teachings in over sixty years. Not since the ravine.

Steve had saved him, Steve had cared for him. Always there, his Stevie. And they had only grown closer since. 

They’d been raised in the northern highlands of Redania—well, ‘raised’ was too strong a word for a part of his life which had lasted a handful of years that he barely remembered; everything except  _ Steve _ . Bucky was full-blooded Redanian, but there had always been  _ something _ different about Steve. He had the looks and coloring found mainly in Kaedwen, but something about the thin bones and dainty frame spoke of Elven ancestry, and not too distant at that. Steve had never met his father, and Bucky clearly remembered the faraway look Sara got on her face at the thought of the man. Or, in Bucky’s secret imaginings—Steve only rolled his eyes when Bucky talked about it—the  _ elf _ .

It would certainly explain a lot, especially Steve’s almost preternatural artistic abilities. But he refused to believe that he, Bucky, had been lured and seduced by dubious means into loving the man.

Nope, that was all Steve. Steve and Bucky alike, because Bucky’s man, his  _ witcher _ , had never strayed from Bucky’s side once. Sure, they liked to look, and occasionally they had taken a man or woman to bed with them, but it was always just  _ them _ , together, alone, when morning came. Them and them alone. They’d always had each other’s backs, front, and sides, their hearts and souls and minds—something they’d retained from childhood, before the witchers had come to take them away from the smoldering ruins of their village, and something the masters had chosen to encourage, sharpen, and  _ use _ … once they learned the hard way not to separate them.

The ravine had lost Bucky more than an arm, and the masters more than one of their own—but it was not entirely their fault, as they’d been duped themselves. Hydra, a school of witchers banned and—or so they thought—cauterized from witcher society over a century before Bucky and Steve had started their training.

It wasn’t Kaer Morhen’s fault, not truly, but the masters had never once separated them after Bucky had returned from the dead, ready and willing to tear the many heads of Hydra off all at once.

Steve had beat him to it. That, and more. Both had been overwhelmed and hurt, tortured, abused in their own ways during Bucky’s eight month absence—presumed dead… instead turned into a new version of a witcher; one he had to fight constantly within his own mind and body.

It had been years since he’d lost control to the aspect of Hydra’s teachings residing within him. Not since that night he’d saved Natasha’s life.

As they topped the ridge, their horses tied lightly to branches below them and calmed with a Sign, all thoughts of complaining or teasing Steve about being lost flew right out of his head, especially since Steve seemed just as shocked as he that the faint whiff he’d caught of magic had panned out. In that moment, eyes immediately landing on the child chained by his bruised and bloody neck to a post, centered inside of a large perimeter ward, he felt that little part of Hydra in him rising for the first time in decades, its anger pure and its hate intoxicating. 

The sight of little Peter of Attre, adopted son and ward of Anthony of Cintra, lately of Maribor, nearly had him stumbling down the hill to rescue the battered child without a thought towards who else was in the camp.

_ That _ sent a bucket full of ice water down his spine, all incendiary rage vanishing like it was never even there.

Hydra.

Hydra was here.

…. _ how? _ He had killed the entire cell that had taken him captive… Steve had killed the rest in Kaer Morhen, and solo agents across the Continent killed by them and the other witchers over the decades. It had been twelve years since he’d last heard of one even being sighted in the Northern Kingdoms, not Nilfgaard where they remained firmly entrenched, even welcome. Apparently all the Northern cells had all gone underground. Beneath the mountains and into the old mine shafts which had been cleaned out, gutted, and abandoned without a backward glance by the human, gnomish, and dwarven miners of Mahakam alike.

Steve tugged him back down their side of the slope and then pressed their foreheads together, long blond and brown hair mingling as their breathing evened out, now fully in sync.

“I’m good,” Bucky whispered hoarsely. He swallowed thickly. “We’ve got to—” 

But whatever it was that Bucky was going to say was immediately forgotten as the camp behind them erupted in a  _ blaze _ of fire.

* * *

**Tony**

Peter. His every thought began and ended with  _ Peter _ .

  
  
  
  
  


When Steve and Bucky show up and demonstrate they’re allies not enemies (Hydra)(maybe by lifting the lockets Pepper gave them), Tony directs them to protect Peter, to not leave the ward as he’s about to super fuck things up. Basically blows the whole place up a la IM1 style. He’d only held back because he couldn’t cast what he needed from where Peter was. Maybe back in the cave, using the mountains against his enemies. What does he use as a chaos/life magic trade? Maybe he stored energy in multiple gemstones he had on his fingers which Hydra had dumbly left him with. They can be blackened and cracked from use, but they could give him enough power to move parts of the mountain around him and swallow every enemy and their weapons too. All that’s untouched is the circle with Steve, Bucky, and Peter. Tony even has to claw his way out and one of the guys dart over to help him. Their horses are untouched as Tony could only affect this clearing and mine. 

  
  
  
  


* * *

  
  


**Tony PoV!**

The fight and escape/killing/rescue from Hydra. They stop to rest only when they feel they have attained a safe distance and found a defensible place to protect against any possible attack (though they’re pretty sure they killed them all there… well, that Tony killed them all… they’ve now seen Hydra come back from seeming extinction to wreak havoc on witchers, humans, and others all. They’re on guard now. This is personal to them. Tony finds this out while they’re talking. Keeping watch but whispering quietly, a spell for Tony and witcher ears for Steve and Bucky aiding them in keeping their voices down. No fire, curled up close together, protecting Peter the most (where’s his Hym? Fully inside Peter (again)? Make shit up, hah) from the cold.

So they talk and exchange their histories, bits about themselves, maybe some songs hummed or spoken very softly. If I can fit in something about the mountains being for Tony what Oldstones is to Jenny (GoT), then do it. Would be a great theme. Memories in the mountains keeping him here, almost as if he were on a long tether, always pulling him back. That was why he knew his way out of the mines in a backdoor manner (his guards had zero clue he escaped until he was raining fire on them from above), and the ward Peter is in is ironically protecting him from Tony’s magical attack. He would never,  _ could _ never (amulet keyed to a blood bond between them) hurt Peter, even if he wanted to. 

The witchers of course joined the fight and he’d felt his heart racing for more than one reason by the time they were through, the charred husks and remains of Hydra and their camp surrounding them then being put behind them as they fled. Tony only reluctantly lets Steve take Peter with him atop his horse, Tony behind Bucky. Steve and Bucky both placed Signs on Peter, after asking his permission (he loves them for that alone), to aid in… look the Signs up and choose some that have beneficial uses. 

Talk and get to know each other all night, then they hightail it the rest of the way back to Maribor, to the Tower where Tony, Peter, Pepper, and Rhodes all lived. Steve and Bucky are invited in, told they will be welcome here or in any home they reside in at the time if they are ever in need of help, succor, rest, or companionship (maybe some flirty eyes and blushes). The main focus is obviously on helping Peter and figuring out why the Hym is attached to him but  _ not _ draining his life force or doing any other creepy bad shit, but it’s alright that they don’t have all the answers. 

Steve and Bucky stay to help partly out of curiosity (of Peter  _ and _ Tony), out of kindness, for professional reasons and interest (Hym) as well as because they want to see if something will come of their attraction for Tony and  _ his _ obvious interest in them (which is hidden by burying himself in helping Peter). They help out around the Tower but also explore it, especially once Peter is better enough to get up and as soon as he does he skips walking and goes straight to running with the pent up energy of a five year old. He even shows them his father’s workshop where he works with earth and their metals, and fire, to create wonderful devices and new technology. Tony could even tinker with Bucky’s arm… if he lost it and was able to find a suitable replacement? Like an enchanted articulated metal contraption, charmed and spelled to move seamlessly and function like his own flesh. 

They spend a lot of time with Peter. Fondness, some bitterness at their own childhood, though ultimately not regrettable. They’re charmed, really, by this child and his adoptive family. They’ve always wanted a family of their own, which shocks Tony (maybe Pepper and Rhodey when they hear it too, if they do) because witchers have never really  _ wanted _ children. In fact, these two men defy many of the stereotypes of witchers, nearly as bad though not as infamous as Geralt of Rivia. Nothing quite approaches that level of… doggedness. Though these two certainly try.

End either with a kiss, or go the extra mile and have a big bad they need to protect Peter/Tony from again? Or both, really. Kissing, starting to get somewhere, then Pepper’s ingenious water pipe alarm system (anything disrupts the flow once the locks are set, and the alarm sounds) wails and they… hm I could end on a cliffhanger with a large group of Hydra (maybe Nilfgaardian infiltrators too, they’d certainly be in league with Nilfgaard) appearing outside their Tower. Or just a small group of men and some magic. Or a creature that Hydra sent to attack and grab Peter again, along with any of the witchers/sorcerers it can lay its hands on. Something big. 

But then Peter’s Hym comes out to play, protecting Peter against a creature from its former masters. Peter is awake and actively working with the Hym to do… whatever it is I decide at the time of writing. But something. And the three men get worked up and exhilarated, smiling at each other in their own ways. And now Hydra knows Bucky and Steve are still alive (and Bucky carrying a successful strain of the mutation they forced upon him, a mark of Hydra) so they won’t be left alone now, either. They choose to stick around and take residence, start contacting other witchers and sorcerers about the reemergence of the Hydra threat, end with them planning the future, or at least the next few months. They invite him to sit on the padded reading nook under a sunny window, and they plan. End.

  
  


* * *

  
  
  
  
  


Tony is from Mahakam, Steve and Bucky from Vizima

oh! I have an even better idea for the plot. to keep the breadth of the story a little narrower rather than getting caught up in them travelling around and getting tripped up on too much lore lol

peter gets kidnapped, tony gives chase, and pepper hasn't heard back from him in weeks so she hires the witchers to track them both down since she can't seem to scry on him in the water like she usually can and Rhodey hasn't been able to find him on the winds either (or whatever).

Peter and Tony had been taken by whatever this world’s equivalent to Hydra is, paid for by Tony’s own former mentor, a sorcerer weak in magic but powerful in friends. The Hym is there, protecting Peter (the Hym had always been there, Peter will tell them, and allowed itself to be seen/leave tracks because it wanted them to follow and protect Peter, despite it being commanded by Hydra to bring the boy to them) as well as Tony, who has been badly injured. He was hurt before the rescue (something akin to the damage that necessitated the arc reactor in mcu) but is able to help fight and protect Peter once the witchers unbind the magic cuffs. And he is a true  _ sight to behold _ . 

Then he collapses and they race him and Peter home. The next scene can be Tony’s PoV and waking up to Steve and Bucky by his bedside, despite being very busy, very important, hard to find witchers. And here are  _ two _ ! 

* * *

  
  
  


Scratch Skellige --- make it a place important to Tony, maybe his old home with his parents, or Jarvis and Ana, or whatever (maybe Pepper and Rhodey passed away? Sorcerers have longer life spans). Whatever it is, it needs to be a place that haunts him, and important to the story. Because this can totally fit the Jenny of Oldstones song.

  
  


**Hym or just a plain Necromancer?**

An alternate opening scene could be as the witchers come upon a battle. They don’t know who it is, though they have suspicions based on what they see as they help the sorcerer bring down the… something. Some creature, dangerous but not as bad as the Hym they’ll face later (is that Tony’s hunt or the men’s or both?). They wonder why a sorcerer had trouble with this but see that the man has somewhat recent to week-old injuries, both, and offer to help tend him. Or more like insist he stay the night at their fire. They talk while they tend their gear, horses, food, and injuries alike. Realize one is off to hunt a Hym and the other(s) join? Or they’re both after it and choose to partner up as they are not wanting for money and both respect the skills of the other. 

A Hym is a type of spectre that appears in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

It's particularly formidable in that it doesn't outright attack its target but instead feeds on the target's guilt, tormenting them to the point the person goes completely mad or they commit suicide.

According to scholars who wrote Behind the Great Veil, hyms are one of the most dangerous demons and cannot be exorcised traditionally. They inhabit several spheres, including the real world and Gaunter O'Dimm's dark plane.

Perfect for rattling Tony and the men too, guilting them and making them face their own demons. Perfect way to get to know our characters, and for them to see the vulnerability in/want to protect the others.

Underlying story for Tony: either to deal with his father or his fear of not being good enough for Peter (or both). The Hym can feed on this, feel it, rattle him. Was it in possession of him even briefly? Maybe when he was younger, and now it’s found him again? The Hym could in fact get away and then when the three of them get to Tony’s base (taking the time to talk over campfire on the way (pass through a Nilfgaardian/Cintran battlefield that is nothing but bones now, though no one has cleaned it up), maybe three nights?, and to learn each other’s backstories—they’re each curious about the other, that’s for damn sure, though they’ve heard whispers here and there over the decades), Pepper and Rhodey race to meet them (they had scouts out) and tell him that Peter’s been taken.  ~~The Hym, yes, but perhaps its reins are held now by a bigger enemy (like Hydra, maybe a group of rogue Niflheim sorcerers?). Chase after Peter, and they gather people as they journey, calling friends to their aid, and others simply having heard and tracked them down. Avengers and family! Take down the group even if some of them escape, family feels, and getting together/hopeful ending to that aim.~~

~~Hydra could be trying to achieve witcher mutations, which had been lost (or thought to be), and they chose Peter because of their past with Tony but also because of the inherent power of the Art in Peter. Young and malleable too.~~ (Waaaaaaaaaaay too long)

Steve and Bucky being completely charmed by Peter and they find themselves reluctant to leave like they really ‘should’. And Tony falling head over fucking heels for them both as he watches them cherish and love his child. 

* * *

**Notes/Outline**

Optional fic idea: Then… maybe Peter as a sort of stand-in for Ciri? Ciri still exists but this is Tony’s ward in the same sense. Something like that. Maybe they need to rescue him? Like Tony needs to get back to his ward, then they get there (men escort him back even if he grouches he can take care of himself) and the place has been ransacked. His priceless items and other things of worth taken, others destroyed. After something of Tony’s, so they take Peter as ransom/hostage. It’s Hydra (equivalent) and so Steve and Bucky of course get involved (not that they wouldn’t have anyway haha) and travel with Tony to rescue Peter. 

Action at beginning, action near end, some kisses and words expressed maybe the night before or after they rescue Peter?

  
  


Tony sat at a table in the tavern, tucked into the dark with his back against the wall, idly spinning the iron ingot that rested on a long cord around his neck. 

They’d been among some of the last generations of witchers. 

Start with them riding. Or sparring?

**Quest to hunt a Hym! (Title some riff on hymns?)**

Could be that Steve and Bucky take a bounty for a monster that is part human and whatever way they can describe a witch like Tony while still not being an actual human. And then when they get there, Tony attacks them but more out of self-preservation (Tony as Yennefer, but from rich parentage?) and the only thing that stays Stucky’s hand is that they smell his humanity or something, since Witchers can tell. Tony has an affinity for mechanical magic. 

Or better yet…

Steve and Bucky meet him in a tavern and somehow Tony doesn’t stop following them around (mostly he finds them fascinating, Yennefer won’t shut up about her witcher and bard, Tony tells them, so he supposes it makes sense that he would want to get his own eventually). Stucky are grumpy like Geralt about this, but they’ve heard tales about the man’s travels and learned not to fight Destiny the hard way. Totally oblivious to the fact that they’re growing attached to Tony and Tony them until two other sorceresses (Pepper x Nat) point out how Tony has marked/claimed them over the years that they were totally oblivious to. Possibly after something goes wrong and Stucky or Tony are recovering from an injury after a monster hunt gone sideways. They confront Tony. Total smut fest (or fade to black). 

“A father who didn’t want me… they paid him handsomely for me; the highest sum they’d ever offered for a student of chaos. It did not gain me friends. Too bad Yen was a few decades older than me; we got along great after she and I both dumped the Brotherhood and went our own ways. Hmm… though perhaps it is for the best that she and I didn’t meet in school…” 

Steve and Bucky grew up together as witcher candidates. They set out on the Path together but Bucky was lost in a great battle. For decades Steve roamed without his other half, when one year stories started to trickle in that in the north could be found a witcher… but not. One controlled by an Emperor, a killer of men, a witcher who betrayed his oaths and the Path and the school and Order itself, worse than Geralt himself, a witcher mutated beyond the norm but in twisted ways, and a ghost, one who was seldom seen and if he was it was as if he were a member of the Wild Hunt; an omen of war fast approaching. Eventually Steve finds out it’s Bucky (he long had his suspicions) and rescues him after they clashed once and the magic controlling Bucky started to crumble. They still struggle, especially to find the love that they once had, on the Path, before Bucky fell. And it’s this chasm that Tony fits into perfectly, growing into the cracks between Steve and Bucky over the years they travel the road with the annoying sorcerer-blacksmith, not even realizing the whole time until, it seems, the very last moment. 

  
  


* * *

Tony on the run? Perhaps he’s one of the wizards who forges the meteorite iron into Witcher swords? 

  
  


[ https://witcher.fandom.com/wiki/Sign ](https://witcher.fandom.com/wiki/Sign)

[ https://www.thegamer.com/witcher-3-strongest-monsters/ ](https://www.thegamer.com/witcher-3-strongest-monsters/)

[ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6c0fny9h4OE ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6c0fny9h4OE)

**Hyms might not just be one of the tougher enemies to fight, they might also rank as one of the creepiest. These shadowy demons feast on their victim's guilt, driving them to eventual suicide. Geralt encounters one in Skellige when trying to help Cerys an Craite, and again in the Hearts of Stone DLC.**

**These specters operate in the shadows and are difficult to kill. They cannot be exorcised by traditional means, so you'll have to use some quick wits to take it down. Alternately, you can choose to trick it and avoid fighting it altogether.**

  
  


I was thinking, like, Steve and Bucky could both be Geralt in a slightly Asset-like way, and then there’s Tony the Bard and they meet like how they do in the show and Tony won’t stop following Stucky around. Just ridiculousness. And fun. Maybe hunt a monster.

Oh and the original request was werewolf/shifter Bucky, and Witchers.... well, this just makes things easier!! Could totally make them shift into wolves if I want to (I have no clue what canon says on that, honestly).

**Author's Note:**

> So as you can see, there is actually some quite decent content here that I like for this! I just don't have the confidence to handle the AU, same as my Pacific Rim AU which will also be going up for adoption and some other really old fics that I am quite sad that I never got around to. :(
> 
> But yes! I hope that you like the vision I had for this, at least, [@betheflame](https://betheflame.tumblr.com/)! I am FAR more pleased with the fic outline I have now which more closely resembles the original prompt. Suuuuper excited about finishing that and getting to show it to you (finally, oh gosh). First my 3490 Stony Identity Porn Soulmate fic for [@ishipallthings](https://ishipallthings.tumblr.com/), which I'm nearly 8k into! Never done anything like it, but I am just soooo psyched for it. Both it and the one for betheflame, which @anonymousmink now really wants to draw based on sneak peeks of what I've shown her, so THAT is cool, eh? :D For both fics! So my charity bid winners are going to get two for the price of one. :)


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